The entrance to Valhalla, a bar that seems to have an issue with neckties on men.

Certain bars in Houston have long been notorious for their dress codes. For example, in 2012, Tyler Deric, a backup goalie for the Houston Dynamo, became involved in a physical and legal altercation outside Heights bar Roosevelt Lounge after being denied entry because his group of friends "didn't meet the dress code." Deric maintained the dress code excuse was merely a front for disallowing his black friends entry. In 2011 the Press did a cover story on how various Houston bars use dress codes and other door policies to actively discriminate against their clientele.

So it might be a surprise that one Houston bar has what is apparently a reverse-dress code. But a Rice alumnus was kicked out of Valhalla last Thursday for the most innocuous of clothing -- a necktie.

The alumnus -- he did not want to use his real name, so we'll call him Irving -- graduated from Rice University in 2008. He said he likes to wear ties to work now, because men get only so many socially acceptable fashion accessories (and we've all agreed that fedoras are douche-y). But apparently Valhalla, the underground graduate student-run bar on the Rice campus, has a long-standing "tradition" against ties, so Irving was kicked out. Not just kicked out. Banned.

Here's what happened. Pay attention, because it gets convoluted: Irving showed up at Valhalla around 7 p.m., right after work, to get a drink and hang out with some friends. He ordered a beer at the bar and went outside. About an hour later he went back inside to get a second beer. Later, when he went for a third beer, a bartender told him she wouldn't serve him until he took off his tie.

Irving thought that was stupid, so he refused to remove it. (It should also be noted that he was wearing a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches, but it was the tie at which the bartender took umbrage.) According to Irving, the first bartender called another bartender over to discuss. Irving's friend tried to buy him a beer instead in an attempt to calm the situation. Then a third bartender joined the fray, armed with a pair of scissors, and threatened to cut Irving's tie right off of his neck.

At this point Irving was holding two beers: his and his friend's. He had the beer he wanted, so he moved outside. Meanwhile, the bartenders figured out his name, and, according to Irving, kept looking outside, glaring at his group.

Private college, private club, private mentality. These stalwart, anti-establishment rebels without a clue are the same ones who will graduate to a high paying job and immediately beat feet for the nearest EXCLUSIVE *cough* gated *cough* COMMUNITY.

I would never want go to an establishment that is so pretentious over NOTHING and one that harasses well-meaning and PAYING clientele over an issue with a dress-code obviously designed by asshole jocks. Shame on them.

Did no one notice the column covered in severed ties in there?
From attached link:
Of course, undergraduate students aren’t the only ones who like to blow off steam. One of the most cherished traditions for graduate students is gathering at Valhalla, the graduate student pub, after a long day of classes and research.
“It’s a little hobbit hole of a bar, underneath the steps of Keck Hall,” Marshall said. In its 40-year history, the bar has become known for its inexpensive beer and friendly volunteer bartenders. But despite Valhalla’s relaxed atmosphere, tie-wearers beware!
“There was a bartender at Valhalla named John Schroeder who worked there for over 20 years and imposed a very strict dress code,” Marshall said. “To this day, if you wear a tie into Valhalla, you will have it severed from your body and the remnants will be displayed on a trophy wall in the bar.”
http://news.rice.edu/2011/11/04/the-story-behind-rice-traditions/

People are saying this is a "long standing tradition" I'm calling BS on that. The "tradition" was started within the last 5-7 years and only applies on Friday afternoons and after PhD defenses. I got served (with a tie on) up until the same female bartender that wouldn't serve Evan started working. My primary issue I feel isn't even with the rule, it is with how rude they were about it. Especially to alumnus who have been frequenting that same bar wearing a necktie, every time, for the past 8 years. I have never once been told to remove my tie while enjoying a beer at Valhalla until that night.

As a spectator that night, I can say that the bigger issue, completely missed in this article, was the level of douche just pouring out from this kid as he's screaming. All anybody has to do is just take off your tie and put it in your pocket, which a guy did later with minimal fuss. But when you act like that much of a spoiled brat, as typical of Rice undergrads, you're not gonna get served anywhere.

Oh, and the multiple cut ties hanging on the wall are from Rice grad students who have just defended their PhDs and stop off to celebrate with a beer while wearing their "impress the thesis committee" suits. They have fun getting their ties ceremonially shorn and taped to the wall, then enjoy a few brews to celebrate. That is a very recent wrinkle to the late bartender's former Friday afternoon tradition. It's kinda fun. But it's still just for new Rice PhDs.

A little perspective, from someone who has been around Rice/Valhalla for longer than all of the current bartenders: There was once a very cool Valhalla bartender (now passed on to the real Valhalla) who started the tradition of no ties ON FRIDAY AFTERNOONS in Valhalla (his shift was 4 -5 p.m. Friday). It was intended as an encouragement to loosen and remove the tie that symbolized your working week indenture--the weekend is here, and you're having a beer, relax! That was it. The threat of the cut off tie was just that, mostly just a threat, but occasionally it would be done--in good fun--after a "repeat offender" had had the tradition politely explained.

Some of these more recent Valhalla bartenders, apparently unaware that they are fucking up the tradition, have gone militant, and from my own experience, some of them are pretty rude about it too. Many professors who used to stop off with their grad students on a weeknight no longer do so. I suspect that's partly why. I wish they would return the "rule" about ties to Friday afternoons as in the past (and ask people, politely, to remove their ties and explain the rule-- many people honestly don't know). And, bottom line, DON'T BE A DICK ABOUT IT.

@Thierry Langford Here here! I'll never give Valhalla another dime. Bunch of fascists, what's to stop them from making up any reason not to serve you. And they take credit cards or have an ATM Machine on site.

@Say_No_To_Douche Evan Mintz is an unabashed attention whore, and he probably wouldn't hesitate to admit it. Hardly 'typical of Rice undergrads' though, that one's his own kind of special. The bigger news here is that he wouldn't give his real name for this piece despite plastering his complaints all over the internet for days now.

@sales435 FYI the person who has moved to Valhalla :(((( could get a bit over enthusiastic about tie cutting.... my advisor had to fend him off without warning, before my time. He always took off his tie after that....

Yeah, I'm not the one kicking and screaming because the mean girls at a pretentious little basement bar wouldn't take my money. Nor am I in the habit of removing other people's clothes for anti-establishment 'cred.'

@Cgs220, I've been to your little parlor and no, it's not a dive bar. Raleigh's on Telephone Road was a dive bar, Frank's Icehouse on Irvington was a dive bar, and any number of Lindale/Eastwood/Pecan Park cantinas are dive bars. Dive bars don't have dress codes or marker boards and if someone gets cut--it's not their tie, btw--and it's not with scissors.

Neither am I, buddy. But I AM one of the bartenders. I don't give a shit about whether or not someone wants to wear a tie. And have you ever been to Valhalla? Not exactly pretentious, more like dive bar.

@Kylejack@SadGrad Perfectly fine to disagree with a private establishment's rule and find another place to drink if you don't like it (I think the tie thing is kind of dumb myself, but also not worth causing a fuss over). But if this Mr. Irving was being argumentative and yelling at the bartender, then he definitely should have been refused service and asked to leave the bar.

@Kylejack@SadGrad Up the point that Evan Mintz became loud and argumentative in the bar, he could have easily gotten a beer by removing the tie. Instead of doing that or simply leaving if he valued his manner of dress over more beer, he yelled at the bartender. Name any bar that would let you treat their staff that way and continue serving you alcohol.

@Kylejack @soapdodger That may be what he reported, but from sitting at the bar that was the opposite of what I saw. Evan Mintz was defensive and argumentative, and then stood on the rungs of his stool to lean over the bar and yell at the bartender to give him a beer. Pull that in any bar and you'll get thrown out, tie or no tie.

@Kylejack If this was a normal for-profit bar I would agree, but Valhalla is a non-profit bar run by volunteers that don't get paid. They do it for the fun, and shenanigans result, and that's part of the charm. Another "rule" is that naked people get free beer to support Baker 13, so it's all in good fun. Most bartenders don't follow the no-tie rule, and those that do do it playfully. It sounds like when the bartenders made a joke of telling him to take his tie off (like I've seen a hundred times), he acted like and asshole, and that's where the conflict began. If you're not going to be part of the culture of the bar, then go pay full price at a bar that is there to make a profit.

@othellofellow The way people dress is often one of the ways they express who they are and what they're like. You don't need to be Gandhi or MLK Jr. to stand up for something. People make stands on all kinds of frivolous topics, so I don't see what's wrong with doing so about dress codes.

@Kylejack@othellofellow "civil disobedience"? you're going to a grad student bar known for cheap beer. and the best argument you and "irving" can give is that the rule is "stupid" or "dumb". not exactly gandhi material.